Vault-light construction.



' A. CHAMB LEY'.

VAULT LIGHT CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22. I916.

Patented Nov. 20, 191?.

ALEXANDER CI-IAIPIBLEY, OF PHILADELEHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

VAULT-LIGHT CONSTRUCTION.

arissa.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2d, 1917.

Application filed April 22. 1916. Serial No. 92,911. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER CHAM- BLEY,.a citizen of the United States, residing atPhiladelphia, in the county ofPhiladelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have in? vented new and usefal Improvements in Vault-Light Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to vault light constructions such as are used in side walks, floors, vaults and roofs or skylights, and has for an object to provide a structure of sim ple design and formation which can be readily disposed in the desired position. and relation to other. portions of elements to form an effective waterproof light conducting wall or floor.

The invention comprehendsamong other features the formation of vault light arches or units which are adapted to be arranged on suitable supports to span the intervening space and be suitably secured rigid to subsequently receive the usual vault lights, seated in the units or upon the same, the exposed surface being later covered with a layer or floor of concrete or some other cem entitious material to form the finished structure, the arches or units being formed of skeleton frames of reinforced bars or wire embedded in concrete andarranged so that the vault light openings can be formed therein. Still further embodiments of the invention resides in. its particular shape of each unit and by which thedesired strength is obtained with use of the least amount of material, the sides of the arches or units being also formed so that when units are adjacently arranged a desired space for an expansion joint will be formed.

In the further disclosure of the invention, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, constituting a part of this specification, in which simllar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the vault light formation,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical transverse sectional view,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the units, 7

Fig. 4 is aperspective view of the skeleton frame, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the vault light casings.

Referring more particularly to the views,

I disclose a plurality of walls 10 in the nature of uprights or supporting partitions which may be the side walls of a cellar or under round passage beneath the usualside walk and to which passage it is desired to admit a quantity of light. Supported on the supporting wall 10. are units or arches 11, each consisting of, a metallic skeleton frame 12 formed of longitudinal wires or rods 13 and transverse wires 1% looped around the longitudinal rods 13 as at 15, the rods and wires being spaced apart to form a sort of network and thus complete the skeleton frame. This frame is subsequently covered or embedded in concrete 16, the latter being preferably molded around the frame with vertically arranged openings 17 provided as clearly shown in Fig. 8, that is to say, by equally spacing the transverse and longitudinal rods of the frame from one an other, forms spaces 15 therein, serving to aline or register with the openings 17 of the concrete, and non-obstructing said openings for a purpose to be hereinafter more fully brought out as the description of the invcntion is proceeded with. Now it will be clearly seen that the sides of the skeleton frame 12 are inclined and so also the completed unit 11 has its sides inclined as will be noted by reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3. W hen a plurality of units are arranged upon the supports 10 to span the intervening spaces 18 it will be seen that between adj acent units there will be formed spaces 19 of a sort of V shape or configuration, due to the inclined sides of the units. Vault light casings 20 are seated upon the units and sub sequently receive vault lights 21 with a layer or coating of cement 22 disposed evenly over the arches or units to form a finished surface or floor with suitable projections 23 on the casings 20 embedded in the surface or floor of concrete to rigidly secure the casings therein, said casings preferably projecting a slight distance into the surfaces of the units as shown in Fig. 2. Referring to this figure it will be seen that a quantity of asphaltum 24: or some other similar material 24; is poured or deposited in the spaces 19 after the units have been placed in position thus not only insuring relative rigidity of the units but forming an expansion joint between adjacent units to allow for the expansion or contraction thereof, these joints however being also covered by the surface or floor of cement 22 subsequently arranged upon the units and forming the finished surface of the vault light construction, it being clearly seen that the expansion joints will be substantially V -shaped in cross section, due to the inclination ofthe sides of adjacent units and thus by this ridge like construction and formasages for permitting the light from above to pass through the vault lights and into the cell or spaces 18 between the side walls or partitions 20.

With the described form of unit construction it will be readily seen that the units can be made complete in the factory and shipped in quantities to the desired location where they are to be used, thus necessitating merely the placing of the units in the position shown in the drawings, the application of the vault lights and their casings and the disposition of the cement upon the faces of theunits to embed and secure the vault light casings, the expansion joints being formed by pouring or depositing the asphaltum or other material in the V spaces-between the units after they have been placed in position upon the supporting walls or uprights.

Although I am aware that reinforced arch constructions for the spans of bridges and in solid masonry or floor work have been used successfully for the mentioned constructions and that sheet metal reinforcing elements have also been used in vault light construc- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for tions, I aim to provide independent finished units of substantially inverted channel formation, each a separate arch in itself and formed with the least amount of cement and the lightest and strongest possible reinforcingframes, constructed and formed to provide the necessary open ngs, and result 111'.

the units described heretofore. 7

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new is,

1. A11 arch-like reinforced concrete unit for vault light construction comprising a skeleton frame formed of wire like rods arranged in criss cross fashion with the cross rods looped around the longitudinal rods, said frame being embedded in a concrete body formed with openings, and in non-obstructing relation with said openings 7 the said unit being of an inverted ohannel'shape in cross section presenting the same with inclined side walls, the wires of said frame being extended in said walls. f

2. In a vault light construction, an inverted channel shaped unit formed of a wire .mesh skeleton frame embedded in concrete 7 formed with openings, a coveringof concrete for the unit provided with openings alining with the openings of said unit, and acasing embedded in the covering and projecting into the units. I. 1

' 3. In a vault light construction, an in; verted channel shaped unit formed of a wire mesh skeleton frame embedded in concrete formed with openings, a covering of con crete for the unit provided with openings alining with the openings of said unit, a casing embedded in the covering and projecting into the units, and a projection formed integral with said casing forrigidly securing the casings in said covering.

In testimony whereof I a'liix my signature.

ALEXANDER Washington, D. G.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 2 

